It is quite common for fisherman to have several fishing lures or more with their fishing gear. And often the fishing lures can cost up twenty dollars or more. Problems that can occur can result around the need to disengage the hook from the lure, which usually requires tools, such as pliers and the like. Often the lures can easily break while trying to change the hooks. Having to replace several lures can start to get costly for the fisherman.
Over the years various types of fishing lure hooks have been used. See for example, U.S. Pat. No. 1,522,451 to Hayes; U.S. Pat. No. 1,546,701 to Bailer; U.S. Pat. No. 1,710,102 to Moore; U.S. Pat. No. 1,738,617 to Schaffer; U.S. Pat. No. 2,124,822 to Johnson; U.S. Pat. No. 2,236,353 to Minser; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,948,275 to Lehmann.
However, these types of prior art generally use a single strand of metal wire forming the clasp with usually one end of the single wire strand closing off an end to form a loop which have problems when used.
For example, the end of the strand in the clasp loop can often pull apart when being used in the water, resulting in the loop becoming open and the hook and/or line falling from the clasp loop. When this occurs the fishing lures and fishing hooks can then become lost, resulting in lost gear which can both expensive and time consuming to replace over time. Additionally, the single loop strands can become bent and lose their spring elasticity from having to be bent back and forth overtime. Still furthermore, the prior art clasps sometimes require extra tools, such as pliers to be used, which can further damage the clasp loops over time. Still furthermore, the sharp tips on the single strands of the clasp loops can easily puncture and injure the person trying to attach or detach the clasp loops overtime.
Other types of clasps exist having a single arm with a separate spring for biasing the arm to close off a clasp opening. See for example, U.S. Pat. No. 79,347 to Hayes; U.S. Pat. No. 1,636,209 to Bergsten; and U.S. Pat. No. 2,540,330 to Gries. Many of these types of clasps generally require a separate spring such as a coil spring at an end of a lever arm where the opposite free end of the lever arm is biased to close off an opening in an open sided loop clasp.
The extra coil spring can add extra expense and manufacturing costs. Additionally, the open end of the lever is generally required to abut against an edge of the open loop clasp in the closed position. Similar to the other prior art clasps the lever arms can often become snagged when used and pulled apart causing the clasp loop to open, resulting in the fishing lures and/or fishing hooks and the like to become lost.
Additionally most of the clasp loops use metal, that can rust overtime. Thus, the need exists for solutions to the above problems with the prior art.